Sam Hemingway of the Burlington Free Press reports on the paper’s website that on Monday the Attorney General’s Office for Vermont announced that the agency will look into competition in the dairy industry.Attorney General William Sorrell described the operation as in the fact-finding stage. ‘“We’re just trying to come up with information that might be of assistance to us or to the federal government.”’ Sorrell believes it is too early to predict whether the investigation will lead to any legal action.
The allegations being investigated follow an announcement by the US Department of Justice that that agency it is investigating similar competition claims. Specifically, the federal agency is interested in whether a lack of competition in the industry among processors is allowing the processors to set low milk prices that force the farmers to operate at a deficit or go under. Currently, Dean Foods of Dallas, Texas is thought to have control over roughly 70 percent of the New England market, according to Hemingway. This year has seen dairy prices drop to the point where they aren’t keeping up with operating costs.
Amanda St. Pierre is a Richford farmer and the spokeswoman for the Vermont-based Dairy Farmers Working Together advocacy group. While St. Pierre welcomes the investigation, she questions the timing considering the Justice Department’s announcement earlier this year. For his part, Sorrell said his office worked on these issues with the Justice Department in the past and will continue to do so in the future.
While the price for milk has improved over the last few months, farmers are still making less than the costs of production. Hemingway quotes St. Pierre as stating, ‘“[t]hings have begun to creep up, but the hole is so big that farmers are still struggling to stay alive [.]”’
Like many in agriculture, this has been a difficult year for dairy farmers. Whether these investigations find structural reasons for the struggles will have to wait for the investigation to run its course.
To read the Hemingway article click here.
Posted: 12/15/09
